Battle of Memel

The Battle of Memel (5 October 1944-28 January 1945) was a battle which took place on the Eastern Front of World War II. As a part of the Baltic Offensive, the Red Army launched an offensive operation against the remaining German forces in Lithuania and Latvia, driving them into a small bridgehead in Memel (Klaipeda) and its port, leading to a three-month siege.

History
In August and September of 1944, a series of German counter-offensives succeeded in stalling the Soviet advance and maintaining the connection between Army Group Center and Army Group North. However, Stavka made preparations for an attack by the 1st Baltic Front against the positions of the 3rd Panzer Army and thence towards Memel (Klaipeda), splitting the two army groups. Soviet general Hovhannes Bagramyan planned to make his attack to the west of Siauliai, concentrating up to half of his force in that area; he sought to convince the Germans that the main axis of attack would be towards Riga.

On 5 October, Bagramyan opened the offensive against Erhard Raus' 3rd Panzer Army on a sixty-mile front, concentrating his force against a relatively weak volksgrenadier division, which collapsed on the first day. The 5th Guards Tank Army proceeded to advance towards the coast north of Memel, and the 3rd Panzer Army's positions collapsed. By 9 October 1944, the Soviet 43rd Army had reached the coast south of Memel, while the 5th Guards Tank Army reached the north. The 3rd Panzer Army's headquarters was overrun by the Soviet tank army, and Raus and his staff had to fight their way into Memel. On 9 October 1945, Ferdinand Schoerner signalled that he would mount an attack to relieve Memel if troops could be freed up by evacuating Riga. The Kriegsmarine managed to withdraw much of the garrison and some civilians from the port in the meantime. The 3rd Belorussian Front attempted to break through into the main area of East Prussia, but the "Gumbinnen Operation" was halted by heavy resistance within a few days.

The failure of the Gumbinnen operation forced the Soviets to instead blockade Memel, trapping the German forces inside the city. The Grossdeutschland Division, the German 58th Infantry Division, and the 7th Panzer Division defended the heavily-fortified city, and many of the town's civilians and wounded were evacuated by sea from November to January. During this time, the battered Grossdeutschland and 7th Panzer Divisions were withdrawn and replaced by the German 95th Infantry Division, which arrived by sea. On 27 January 1945, the town was finally abandoned, and the remaining troops of the 95th and 98th Infantry Divisions were evacuated to the Curonian Spit. Memel would be transferred from Germany to the Lithuanian SSR after the war, and was renamed to Klaipeda in 1947.